I got asked on my Facebook page, “I want the low-down on salt. What’s the difference between sea salt and regular salt? Is salt ever good or should we always avoid it like the plague?” I get asked about salt a lot, so I’m excited to have a detailed answer so that you can make the right choice for yourself and your family.

First off, our bodies are made of water and salt, and we need salt in our diet in order to stay alive. Sodium helps us maintain the right amount of fluids in the body, transmit nerve impulses, and helps with the contraction and relaxation of muscles. When sodium levels drop severely below normal, it can cause seizures, coma, and death. But I don’t want to focus on that, because except in rare cases (usually from severe dehydration and failure to replace sodium in the body) we are not generally suffering from low sodium.

What most people on a modern, convenient diet are suffering from is elevated sodium levels. Here’s the domino-effect that happens when you have too much sodium:

• Sodium attracts and holds water
• When extra sodium accumulates in your blood, the blood volume increases
• This makes your heart work harder to move all that extra volume of blood through your vessels
• This puts pressure on your arteries, eventually leading to possible heart failure.

So how do we maintain the balance of getting enough sodium, but not too much?

First, not all salt is created equally. We get to choose from table salt, sea salt, himalayan crystal salt, and other variations. So let me break them down for you.

Table Salt
Our bodies can only handle a tiny bit of “table salt” before it starts to freak out and cause water retention. Ever noticed that the morning after a particularly salty dinner your rings don’t quite fit on your fingers and your toes/ankles feel like stuffed sausages? This is due to you retaining water from excess refined salt. This is the first sign of that domino effect from above.

If you were to eat this way for a long period of time (admittedly, I’ve been there), it causes water-retention all over your body, including the dangerous swelling of heart tissues. This is all caused by excess “table salt.”  Table salt has nothing in common with natural salt. It is 97.5% sodium chloride and 2.5% chemicals such as moisture absorbents, and iodine. It’s processed at over 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit, which damages the natural chemical structure of the salt, and then it’s chemically cleaned. What’s left is sodium chloride, which has been stripped of essential nutrients and is now a completely foreign substance to the body. Table salt then binds to (steals) minerals from your body, which exacerbates the problems mentioned above.

Sea Salt
Sea salt is claimed to be better for you than table salt. It has more beneficial minerals in it, but can still be refined in some ways, although not as refined (not as bad) as table salt. It’s definitely a step in the right direction from table salt, but not the very best option.

Sea salt uses kind of funny marketing, because ALL salt is sea salt. It all came from the sea at some time in history. So sea salt can be refined or unrefined. The best way to tell if it’s unrefined is to look at the color. If it’s pure white, it doesn’t contain all the original minerals that were once in the salt (similar to white sugar or white flour, which are missing minerals and nutrients. “Full spectrum” salt is like the “whole grain” version of salt, if we’re comparing it to bread. If salt is full-spectrum, it will have a color to it.

Crystal salt, or himalayan crystal salt, (also called pink himalayan crystal salt)
In my opinion, this is a better option. This full-spectrum salt provides a natural source of 84 trace minerals that is very bioavailable (absorbable, useable) by the body. Many of us are mineral-deprived due to our diets and the lesser-quality of soil that our vegetables grow in nowadays. So himalayan crystal salt is not only a great alternative to table salt for flavor but also to help replace these minerals.

Here’s some info on a double-blind study done on himalayan crystal salt and its health benefits as compared to table salt and regular sea salt: http://www.himalayancrystalsalt.com/clinical-research.html

Celtic Salt
Is also one of your best options. It has a brownish color to it and is also full-spectrum salt.

DIGRESSION: I have a marketing bone to pick. You won’t fix an excess sodium problem by purchasing “low sodium” packaged products. I just looked up the labels for about 15 different “heart healthy” soup cans. What they really should say on the front of the label isn’t “low sodium,” but, “we’ll help you max out–but not go OVER your daily sodium amounts.”

(To their credit, I’m sure that’s exactly how they would have labeled it if they had room.)

I have read every single label up and down the frozen aisles of Costco, hoping to find some super-fast and convenient meals for my family that didn’t contain too much sodium, and over the years have honestly only found one or two that make the cut. And it’s too bad, because more companies lately are sticking to whole food ingredients in their convenience items, but then making up for the lack of chemicals with inappropriate amounts of salt. I supposed it’s a step, though. But I digress.

The bottom-line answer on how to get enough salt, but not too much?

Once again, Mother Nature has the answer. Eat whole foods, whenever you possibly can. All fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, seeds, eggs from happy chickens, and occasional meat from responsibly grown animals contain sodium. And you can feel free to add himalayan crystal salt in moderation as flavoring, or to your drinking water to keep optimal sodium levels while replacing important minerals in your body. You can use small amounts of it every day, without experiencing swelling and the domino effect explained about. However, if you have been diagnosed with a medical condition that requires very restricted sodium ingestion, then I would limit or avoid even himalayan crystal salt.

I can’t tell you how much himalayan or celtic salt is safe to use every day, because it completely depends on the other foods you’re eating throughout the day. If your food generally comes from a restaurant, or any sort of packaging (box, bag, wrapper, can, etc.) then it’s pretty safe to say that you are ingesting a large amount of processed table salt, which could be putting you at risk. If this is the case, I wouldn’t add any salt (healthy or otherwise) to your diet.

However, if you are eating 100% whole foods including at least 50-70% fruits and vegetables, then you’re naturally on a low-sodium diet and can afford to use a healthy salt in moderation every day. One-quarter teaspoon of himalayan sea salt is about 500mg of sodium, which is the approximate amount our bodies need every day. The RDA is to not exceed 2,300mg per day, but I recommend not exceeding 1,500mg. This is very easy to do if you’re not routinely eating processed foods, even if you do have some himalayan or celtic salt every day.

Have you used himalayan or celtic salt? What benefits have you discovered from switching from chemically processed table salt to a healthier version?